(This guide was created by Zoa, level 70 Blood Elf hunter of the the eu server, Vek'nilash. All credit goes to her for this wonderful guide. Date:03/09/2007 )
Table of contents:
Introduction
Controlling your pet
Choosing a good raid pet
- Cats and ravagers
- Owls and Bats
- Wind Serpents
- Scorpids
- Wolves Talents Raiding encounters
- Karazhan
- Gruul’s Lair
- Magtheridon’s Lair
- World bosses
- Serpentshrine Cavern
- Tempest Keep
- Mount Hyjal
- Black Temple
Feedback, flaming, questions and the author
Introduction
A long, long time ago, even before I played a hunter, I would team up with hunters in parties. They would be doing damage, and all that they were supposed to, yet I would notice that most didn't use their pet. When I asked them why, they said the pet didn't do much damage. My theory has always been that all damage, even the slightest bit, would be beneficial, and concluded that the lack of pets was either because the pet was at danger of dying or that it was hard to control. Granted, before The Burning Crusade, pets were much less strong than they are now, but I still hold on to the claim that using the pet is always beneficial, no matter the spec - even in raids.
This guide is all about raiding, and is mostly aimed for beast mastery hunters, although a hunter with any spec should try and keep his or her pet active and healthy for as long as possible. But since beast mastery hunters rely on their pet, and many seem to spec away from beast mastery for fear of losing their damage when their pet dies, it's important for a beast master to know what to do and what to expect in raids.
This guide will provide tips and tricks to keep your pet, and thus your contribution to the raid, up.
Controlling your pet
There are many means for which hunters can control their pets. Some use key bindings, some use macros. Of the popular macros there are the classic hunters mark/pet attack macro, but I personally feel it limits me when I want to do either one of those. But in the spirit of teaching, here it is anyways:
/cast Hunter's Mark
/petattack Instead of this, I prefer to use key bindings.
Two simple buttons: Q and E. My "Pet Attack" key binding (default is shift + T) is bound to Q, and my hunter's mark is bound to E, meaning every time I want to attack something, I press those buttons simultaneously, and the pet runs off while I apply hunters mark. I can then proceed to use whatever skill I want after that, and if I should want to make my pet attack something else, I can quickly send it to that target without losing my hunter's mark on the first. Use whatever method you prefer to, but remember that it is important that you are able to keep your pet completely under control during a raid.
Choosing a good raid pet
There are many pets out there, and lots of fun ways to use them, but not all are great for raiding. If you are new to raiding, you a probably best off by getting a pet that focuses on DPS (cats, ravagers etc) rather than utility (owls, wolves etc) rather than that cool looking bear. Here is a list of pets that I would recommend for raiding:
Cats, raptors and ravagers: High in damage, these pets are often the prime choice for hunters. They can learn high damage skills as well as dash, and have a lot of cool and unique skins.
Owls and bats: Although we don’t see many bats and owls in Outland, they can still be a good choice for damage and utility. Both have the ability "Screech" which does somewhat low damage, but lowers attack power of all enemies in melee range by up to 210, which is a considerable amount. You might drop a tiny bit in damage, but 210 attack power off an enemy is still significant.
Wind Serpent: Though the wind serpent is past its glory days, it’s still a viable pet for some hunters. A survival hunter combined with "Go for the throat" talent, will cause your pet to spew out lightning breath like it was born to, and will rack up the damage quite nicely. Sadly it falls behind on fights where the enemies have a lot of nature resistance.
Scorpids: Scorpids has been a good alternative for beast mastery hunters because of the neat "bug" concerning their scorpid poison. This has been fixed in patch 2.2, yet it is still a malicious little pet. If you want to use a scorpid, pop all trinkets and bestial wrath before it applies the first poison and the strong effect gained from this will stick on the target as long as the scorpid can reapply it.
Wolves: Although the damage from wolves is lower than that of cats and ravagers, some might find its ability "Furious howl" a nice treat. Furious howl, which is on a 10 second cooldown, increases the damage of nearby party member’s next physical attack by 45-57 damage, which is effectively another 5 DPS for each melee in your raid. You will most likely not be in range for the buff, however.
Talents:
There are tons of good suggestions for raid specs on the various forums all around, so I am not going to post suggestions of my own. I am, however, going to name some key talents to pick if you are speccing beast mastery:
Improved revive pet: If you are a beast master, and your pet dies, you lose about 35% of your total DPS. You need to get it up again fast.
Improved mend pet: Cheaper healing and an easy way to clean your pet from that nasty poison. Frenzy: A pet with frenzy as well as serpent’s swiftness and cobra reflexes will attack incredibly fast, which is also nice for the next talent.
Ferocious inspiration: 3% more damage to all of your party members is arguably one of the best buffs out there. It scales perfectly, and increases not only the damage of you and your pet, but also your party members. With a fast attacking pet, this will be up most of the time, giving you a great damage boost.
For most fights, massive resistance on your pet is not needed.
Raiding encounters:
Here follows the main point of this guide - the raid encounters you will meet on your way to defeat the mighty Illidan and what you should expect to do to keep little Fluffy alive. This is based largely on my own experience, and of tips from other hunters.
Karazhan
The Tower of Medivh, and the first raid instance you will meet. One some encounters, arcane resistance will help your pet survive. This is fights such as The Curator and Shade of Aran, but it shouldn't be too hard keeping your pet alive without any resistance talents.
Attumen the Huntsman
Pet danger: None
Boss notes: This is a pretty straight forward fight. The only time you have to call your pet back is when Attumen jumps his mighty steed, in which case he will clear all aggro, putting your pet in a vulnerable spot. Just call your pet back, wait until the tank has a bit of aggro, and send it back in to rip Attumen to pieces.
Moroes
Pet danger: Medium
Boss notes: From time to time, Moroes will vanish and garrotte a member of your raid, and sadly, Mittens can be a target of this. You won’t be able to keep your pet up with mend pet, and your healers are sure to neglect your pet altogether and see it as a free card. I tend to sacrifice my pet and then resurrect it unless the boss is nearly down.
Maiden of Virtue
Pet danger: Low
Boss notes: Your pet will be a benefit here, but it will take damage. Maiden's AOE damage, which affects all melee, is spread out among the people that are affected by it, meaning your pet will lower the damage even more. With Avoidance rank 2 and a mend pet once in a while, you will have no problem keeping your pet alive.
The Curator
Pet danger: High
Boss notes: While Curator doesn't pose a threat to Barney, the Astral Sparks that he summons are very dangerous. Not only will they target your pet, but your pet will also chain the lightning to other members, and your pet will be at high risk when killing the sparks. I suggest leaving your pet at the door, and only send it in to damage Curator during his evocation. Other people prefer to stick the pet on Curator for the duration of the fight, but beware that your pet will take at least one hit from each Astral Spark when it spawns.
Terestian Illhoof
Pet danger: Low
Boss notes: While this boss is more or less safe for your pet, you might see it aggro Illhoof's imp if its tank isn't fast enough. Once in a while your pet will also take a hit from a small imp, but that damage is hardly anything to note.
Shade of Aran
Pet danger: High
Boss notes: Aran can be a nasty old bugger if you don't keep your pet under control. When he teleports you to him, just before an arcane explosion, you must be sure to drag your pet along as you run to the wall, or your pet will surely take a lot of damage. When he does blizzard, you should recall your pet for a second or two while you dodge it yourself, which will position your pet on the same side of Aran as you, and usually keep it out of harms way. Your pet can move freely when Aran does flame wrath, as it will not trigger the explosion.
Netherspite
Pet danger: None
Boss notes: Surprisingly, your pet won’t take any damage on this fight at all. He isn't affected by the constant damage, and can even stand in the black pools of death without being hurt. Prince
Malchezaar
Pet danger: Low
Boss notes: While your pet won’t be affected by Enfeeble, it will be hit by his Shadow Nova, but with Avoidance rank 2, your pet will only take 1500 damage. The only other thing you have to look out for then, is the infernal spawns - your tank might not be in range of their fire AOE, but your pet might, so keep and eye out for that and reposition if needed.
Nightbane
Pet danger: Medium
Boss notes: Unless you manage to get your pet behind Nightbane, you won’t have to worry about it getting hit by Nightbane's tail. You should move your pet out of the Charred Earth, as it will do some 400 DPS to your pet, which can burn the fur and give you a cranky pet. When Nightbane goes up into the air, be sure to notice that he can target your pet with Rain of Bones. Park it away from the main group if this happens, and throw it a mend pet.
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